OpenCart is a leading e-commerce platform used by millions of websites. Like every other Content Management System (CMS), OpenCart undergoes continues development and update versions are a normal scenario to deal with. You will often need to set your OpenCart website under maintenance mode to perform an update, troubleshoot an error or backup your database. This tutorial provide an essential guide.
1. How to Activate the OpenCart Maintenance Mode
OpenCart allows you to set your store under maintenance. While having this mode activated, visitors will not be able to browse your product catalog or submit new orders. Only you as logged administrator will be able to access the full version of your website. This is a perfect solution if you plan to perform updates, perform changes on your website or update your catalog.
To activate the OpenCart Maintenance mode, please login your OpenCat admin panel and refer to the System>Settings section via the menu on the left.
From the store list page click on the edit icon for your store and proceed to the Server tab from the tab navigation.
On the server tab page scroll down and locate the Maintenance Mode radio button.
Set the Maintenance Mode to On and save your settings to enable it. Your store should be under maintenance now.
Please note that if you are logged as admin in your OpenCart store you will be able to access the store frontend. To see the maintenance message, please logout and refresh your store home page.
Further Reading:
How to Manage Products and Categories in OpenCart
How to install OpenCart on a live server
How to install an Opencart template
2. How to Update OpenCart from one version to another
- Create backup of your OpenCart platform.
- Get the latest OpenCart version downloaded.
- It is time to upload the new OpenCart version to server.
- Install the OpenCart platform from the web browser.
3. OpenCart Error Reporting
If you experience any technical difficulties with your OpenCart store it might be a good idea to enable the OpenCart error reporting. These options will help you debug the issue by providing you with additional information on what exactly went wrong with your script.
OpenCart supports two different options for error reporting. On the one hand, you may enable the general error reporting which will display the errors directly into your browser or you can activate the error logging which will write all errors into a file located in your OpenCart installation directory.
The inconvenience of the first method is that all of your visitors will be able to see the errors displayed on your website but see the errors directly via your browser may help you narrow down the problem.
To activate the error reporting, please login your OpenCart Admin dashboard and navigate to the Settings menu.
From the Store list click on the edit icon next to your store name and proceed to the Server settings tab.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and locate the Error reporting options.
If you enable the Display Error option, your site errors will be directly visible on your website. In case you would like to have all errors logged, enable the Log Errors option and make sure you have a valid error log name.
If you enable the Log Errors option you will be able to read your error log either by directly downloading it from your OpenCart root directory or via the Admin Dashboard. To access the Error log via the admin area of your OpenCart, please refer to the Error Logs section via the main navigation menu.
Be advised that your OpenCart error log might get quite large in case your OpenCart generates a lot of warnings or errors.
In case you have the Log Errors option enable you should regularly check the error log and clear it via the Clear Log option.
4. Backup OpenCart Database
OpenCart provides an easy to use interface to backup and export tables or your entire OpenCart database. If you would like to create a backup of your OpenCart database, please login your OpenCart admin dashboard and navigate to the Backup/Restore section via the main navigation menu.
From the 'Backup & Restore' click on the Select All option to mark all of your OpenCart tables and use the export button at the top right corner of your screen.
Be advised that exporting your OpenCart database might take some time depending on the size of your database. In case you need to have only a specific table exported, click on the Unselect All option and mark only the desired table(s) you would like to download.
As soon as your database is exported your browser will automatically begin the download process. You can store the database backup on your computer and use it to restore your database or tables any time via the import feature.
Restore OpenCart Database
OpenCart provides a user-friendly interface to restore your store database backup by uploading it via the Admin Dashboard. Depending on your backup, you can restore a single table or the entire OpenCart database via the Backup/Restore section.
To access the Backup/Restore section, please login your OpenCart Admin Dashboard and click on the link via the main navigation menu.
To import your database backup, click on the Browse button and select the database dump from your local computer. When you are sure that the correct SQL file is selected, click on the Import button at the top right corner of your screen.
Be advised that importing and restoring your OpenCart database might take some time depending on the size of your database.
When the process is complete you will see the Success notification.
Further Reading:
How to manage extensions and themes in OpenCart
How to manage payments and shipping in OpenCart
Important Steps After an OpenCart Installation
OpenCart 2 Marketing and Affiliate Program
OpenCart Configuration Tutorial
OpenCart installation tutorial
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